# Matthew Barnes
> Senior Software Engineer

New York, NY
011mbarnes@gmail.com

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-b-61162b64/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/mmbarness)

## Skills

Rust, Ruby, Rails, Python, TypeScript, Next.js, PostgreSQL, Neo4j, Redis, RabbitMQ, WASM, RAG, LLM Orchestration, Eval Frameworks, Distributed Tracing

## Experience

### Senior Software Engineer @ Woflow (2025-09 - Present)

- Built persistent Rust egress gateway funneling all outbound provider API calls (OpenAI, Ragie, SerpAPI) through a single chokepoint, unlocking global rate limiting via Redis token buckets, per-provider concurrency control, cost attribution, and W3C distributed tracing that were previously impossible across scattered direct callers. Results return via webhook completion to Trigger.dev wait tokens for zero-cost workflow suspension
- Implemented RAG evaluation framework measuring page-level retrieval accuracy and top-k precision against Vectara benchmarks, enabling controlled iteration on retrieval strategies before shipping to production
- Designed hybrid document retrieval combining BM25 lexical search with Voyage embeddings; researched and deployed a self-hosted OCR pipeline running [dots.ocr](https://github.com/rednote-hilab/dots.ocr) on Modal
- Developed codegen pipeline compiling LLM-designed Rust workflows to wasm32-wasip2 for deterministic sandboxed execution (vs runtime LLM tool calling, which costs more tokens and is harder to reproduce); outbound API calls from these workflows route through mqtt-wasi, a Wasm-compatible MQTT client built alongside the pipeline

### Senior Software Engineer @ Houlihan Lokey (2024-09 - 2025-09)
*Portfolio Valuations*

- Spearheading internal AI application development to model domain knowledge using Neo4j-based knowledge graphs
- Enabling 24/7 access to technical and business context across the firm through graph-integrated generative models

### Software Engineer @ BNY (2023-06 - 2024-09)
*Middle Office*

- Developed systems to automate ingestion of corporate actions (e.g., stock buybacks, dividends) into BNY's proprietary platform, Eagle

### Software Engineer @ Dignifi (2021-09 - 2023-06)

- Dockerized Ruby on Rails backend to streamline development and deployment
- Enhanced CI/CD: integrated automated browser testing with GitHub Actions; surfaced test results alongside feature environment links with auto-comments

## Projects

### mqtt-wasi (Rust, WASM, WASI, MQTT, Systems Programming)

Minimal MQTT v5.0 client for Rust that compiles to wasm32-wasip2. Same binary runs native and on wasmtime. Built as the egress channel for Woflow's codegen-generated WASM workflows.

- Hand-rolled MQTT v5 wire protocol against std::net::TcpStream so the same binary runs native and on wasmtime; existing Rust MQTT clients (rumqttc, paho-mqtt) fail to compile to wasm32-wasip2 due to tokio multi-thread runtime and native TLS dependencies
- Async request/reply layer multiplexes concurrent requests over a single non-blocking socket via correlation IDs and cooperative I/O
- Optional TLS via rustls + rustls-rustcrypto (pure Rust crypto, no C dependencies) so TLS 1.2/1.3 also compiles to wasm32-wasip2
- W3C Trace Context propagation over MQTT v5 User Properties with no OpenTelemetry SDK required
- [GitHub](https://github.com/mmbarness/mqtt-wasi)

### Mailroom (Reasonal | Rust, Python, Redis, Neo4j)

Email classification pipeline for M&A deal tracking in financial services.

- Rust core for high-performance email ingestion and orchestration
- LLM-powered classification of deal communications (NDAs, IOIs, diligence requests)
- Neo4j knowledge graph connecting emails to deals, parties, and deal stages

### Animaworks (Typescript, React, Reduxjs/toolkit, Sanity)

Production company portfolio website built with Sanity's headless CMS and reduxjs/toolkit's latest api.

- Sanity's CMS gives the client an easy and convenient way to manage what's on their webpage with no compromise on the speed of the site itself
- [Live](https://www.animaworks.nyc/)

## Education

- **App Academy** — Immersive in Full Stack Web Development (2021)
- **Skidmore College** — B.A. with Honors in Political Science (2015)